Go into the whole world and proclaim the Good News to every creature. In the Gospel according to St. Mark, Jesus’ final instruction to his disciples as he prepared to ascend to the Father is the command that they carry on with the proclamation of the Good News. Literarily taken, this meant the dissemination of the entire Jesus’ story, that is, what Jesus had said and done (for indeed it was “good news,” God working mighty signs through the person of Jesus: healing the sick, feeding the hungry, and providing for the needy). As was prevalent at the time, this was to be accomplished through the word of mouth - in the temples and synagogues (Jewish territory) and in the agora and public courts (gentile territory). However, the apostles must have realized that oral dissemination was not only limited and short lived, but was also vulnerable to distortion and manipulation. This shortcoming was complemented by putting into writing the contents of their proclamation. St. Mark, whose feast we celebrate today, is among the members of the early Christian community who put their talents into use and saw to it that the Jesus’ story was put into writing. St. Mark was a companion and secretary of St. Peter and has traditionally been identified as the Mark to whom St. Peter refers in the passage we have read in today’s First Reading. From what he heard, he put together the first “biography” of Jesus, a work whose importance we all know too well. Because of Mark and the other evangelists, the story of Jesus, the Good News, continues to be proclaimed today.  
Unlike in the Gospel according to Matthew where Jesus’ last instruction to the apostles is to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19ff), in Mark, Jesus instructs them to proclaim the Good News to   every creature. The Good News is not to be restricted to human beings or only to those who can become disciples, as it were, but should rather be proclaimed to the entire created universe. For it is the created universe that was the recipient of Jesus’ saving action (“the whole creation groans in labor pains…cf. Romans 8:18ff). The Good News is that in Jesus Christ, God has re-created the universe and restored it to its original blessedness. In Jesus Christ, God has repaired the relationship that ties one creature to the other thus restoring the original harmony that was intended for creation by the Creator. Demons, death, enmity between creatures result from the discord that sin brings. This is why those who hear the Good News and take it to heart will be able to  drive out demons, pick up serpents with their hands, and drink deadly poison without being harmed. This is the Good News whose dissemination we have been charged with. May we, like St. Mark, remain faithful in this responsibility by ensuring that the content of our preaching is indeed the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ.